Vacations are meant to be for people to relax. But due to the change in routine, it can unfortunately cause stress in many cats and lead to behavior problems.
Symptoms of cat behavior problems may appear while the owner is away or even when the owner returns.
While some cats do well traveling, staying in hotels, or being boarded, most cats do better when left in their own home with a pet sitter.
There are steps you can take to reduce your cat's stress and likelihood of behavior problems during the holidays.
Changes in the environment
Cats love familiarity, and when something changes in their environment, it can potentially cause them stress. When cat owners go on vacation, many things change for their pets, including absence of owners, different feeding times, less attention, new people, and sometimes a new environment.
It may take your cat anywhere from five days to two weeks to adjust and accept the new environment (sometimes even longer).
Just think about how long it takes some cats to accept new cats into their homes or to adjust to a new home. Both of these situations demonstrate how inflexible cats can be.
A stranger, such as a pet sitter, who doesn't stick to a routine also adds stress to your cat's life. Just when yours is adjusting to his new life with a pet sitter, you return from vacation and change his routine again.
You also no longer smell familiar to the cat because they couldn't freshen up their cheek rub marks while you were away. As a result, some cats hide, defend themselves, or exhibit unwanted behavior.
Cat House: where to leave your pet during a business trip or vacation
Where to leave your pets if you are going on vacation or a business trip? The first thing that comes to mind is that you can give your pet to friends, neighbors, family, or ask them to come and look after it occasionally, especially when it comes to cats and other small animals. But this is not always convenient or even possible. The Moscow 24 portal has found 6 alternatives for you on what to do with your pet when the owner leaves and how to avoid stress for your pet.
Photo: depositphotos/absolutimages
Leave alone
For small animals and especially cats, the ideal option is to stay at home, even if no one can visit them. The fact is that when cats change their environment, they can become stressed and even get sick, but in a familiar place, even without their owner, they will tolerate separation more easily. To make your cat comfortable alone, animal experts have prepared some tips:
- Buy well-absorbent fillers, arrange several trays or build one large one;
- Place the food in several bowls and place them in different places in the house. It is better to use dry and proven food;
- The most important thing is to take care of the water. Plain water, if placed in sufficient quantities, can last up to three weeks in good condition. The container with water must be secured so that the cat does not accidentally turn it over;
- Provide access to water, for example in the toilet. Especially if you have a bowl-type toilet. It can be set to supply a constant small amount of water.
Call a Dogsitter
Photo: depositphotos/gemphoto
The previous option is definitely not suitable for dogs: they are more attached to people and require constant walks. The easiest option is to hire someone to look after your pet for money. Similar advertisements can be found on special portals. The average price for caring for pets at home varies from 200 (for rodents, spiders, small birds) to 1000 rubles (dogs and cats) per day. Ads can be found using the keywords “foster care”, “animal care” or even “pet sitters”.
“Private foster care is the most budget option, but there are certain risks. For example, an animal may contract an infection or run away due to homesickness. Regarding the safety of your pet, it is better to choose the more expensive option of overexposure in a pet hotel,” notes Svetlana Ilyinskaya, president of the Center for Legal Animal Protection.
Check into a hotel
Photo: TASS/Sergey Savostyanov
A more comfortable and safe, but also much more expensive option would be overexposure in pet hotels. They are divided into three segments: for cats, dogs and rodents. There are about 20 of them in different districts in Moscow. Among them there are both relatively budget and luxury options. In the latter, owners even have a constant video link with their pet, so that they can check at any time whether he is okay and feeling well. When checking into a pet hotel, you must provide a vaccination certificate.
Also, in elite pet hotels, in addition to standard accommodation conditions, dog guests may have a fitness center where they can “pump up”, a grooming salon, handler services and a dog training center. Your dog will definitely not be bored here. The cost of check-in on average ranges from 500 to 5 thousand rubles per day, depending on the type of animal and the level of the hotel.
“A pet hotel is a good option for dogs, as they will be able to walk and interact with them. But when choosing a good place for such foster care, you need to pay attention to the contract (and its existence in general), it must stipulate financial responsibility for the loss of the animal. A large amount can protect the health and safety of your pet. The second mandatory item is video surveillance of the animal. Unfortunately, cases have become more frequent when pets are kept in terrible conditions instead of the promised spacious premises,” adds Ilyinskaya.
To the veterinary clinic
Foster care services are offered by some large veterinary clinics in Moscow. They most often accept cats and dogs up to 15 kg and can provide medical assistance if necessary. Unlike pet hotels, overexposure in a veterinary clinic can be called a sanatorium-boarding house for your pet. The pet will be looked after, fed and offered a comprehensive examination or treatment.
Take with you
Photo: depositphotos/alebloshka
Animal rights activists assure that the best option for a pet, which will bring the least amount of stress, is to go on a trip with the owner. In Russia and Europe, it is possible to accommodate small pets in hotels; airlines and Russian Railways allow them to be transported. However, it is better to clarify the cost and all the nuances of such a trip in advance. For example, Aeroflot allows pets on all flights, but employees must be informed about this no later than 36 hours before departure.
You can take a tamed pet weighing no more than 8 kilograms into the aircraft cabin, always in a carrier or cage. Heavier ones can be transported in the luggage compartment. But the large foreign airline Emirates does not allow pets to be transported in the cabin at all.
“You need to be more careful when transporting animals in the luggage compartment. Firstly, the cage must be locked, as pets go missing during trips. Secondly, keep in mind that this is a lot of stress for the animal and, if possible, choose an option where contact with a person is possible: travel by car or in special train compartments,” says Ilyinskaya.
When traveling by train, you need to buy a ticket for a specially designated carriage, provide veterinary documents and pay a fee of 400 rubles. Russian Railways also limits the size of the animal: the weight of the cage together with the animal should not exceed 10 kilograms.
It won’t be difficult to find a hotel with a permit for small pets. According to the popular room booking service, there are 29,016 such hotels in Russia, and, for example, in the USA - 35,474. As a last resort, you can rent an apartment; some of them also allow pets.
Ksenia Kornilova
Urinating outside the litter box
One of the most common behavior problems seen in cats when household changes occur is urinating outside the litter box.
Cats may become aggressive or fearful of caregivers they do not know. These emotions can cause them to urinate outside of their litter box. This is their way of saying that they are scared, stressed, etc.
Since cats love to smell themselves, urine marking also helps them calm down by spreading its scent onto objects. Urine can then be difficult to remove from items such as furniture, carpets and mattresses.
Hotel for cats
In most cases, such cat hotels are located on the premises of a nursery or veterinary clinic. The hotel provides conscientious care for your pet 24 hours a day. Another undoubted advantage of such placement of a pet during the owner’s vacation is that, if necessary, the cat will receive veterinary care.
The spacious rooms in which the animals are kept have several small enclosures. Each of them is equipped with a soft sleeping place, a feeding trough, a drinking bowl and a full list of things necessary for the comfort of a pet’s stay.
The territory of some hotels is equipped with a special outdoor area and an indoor area. On them, pets are not limited in their movements and have the opportunity to frolic, playing with their brothers.
pros
- the animal is under 24-hour surveillance;
- if the need arises, he will be provided with qualified veterinary care;
- the cat will be surrounded by communication and attention from its brothers and staff in the required amount
Minuses
- You will have to pay quite a small amount for a pet to stay on the hotel premises for a day. The more comfortable the conditions for keeping pets, the higher the price tag will be;
- Not every cat has a positive attitude towards changing the usual environment at home to living in a noisy company of fellow cats.
Before making a choice of a particular hotel establishment, it would be a good idea to ask for information and reviews among your friends, a veterinarian, or at least on the Internet. It is important to call the hotel in advance and discuss the small details of keeping your pet during your vacation. It would not be a bad idea to provide your cat with the necessary supply of his favorite food, litter for the tray and familiar toys.
The last and most important step in preparing to place your pet in a hotel is to add the number of the cat hotel to the memory of your mobile phone. This will help, in case of the slightest concern, to clarify how the pet feels and behaves in the absence of the owner or mistress.
List of addresses of cat hotels in Russia
- In Moscow
Cat's Dream Hotel is located in the Moscow region, village. Rusavkino-Romanovo, st. Gostinichnaya, 43 +7 (495) 960-66-63
Zoohotel, st. Kotlyakovskaya, possession 1 B, +7 (499) 794-46-17
- In St. Petersburg
ZooEcoHotel, Moskovskoe sh., 14, building 1, +7 (812) 920-08-00
- In Nizhniy Novgorod
Angels of Zooservice, st. Pochainsky Ravine, 7, +7 (831) 434-19-62
- In Chelyabinsk
Koshkin House, st. Zwillinga, +7(908)-070-77-44
- In Samara
Motel for cats, prosp. Maslennikova, 9, +7 (909) 323-53-39
- In Ekaterinburg
Pussy cat apartments, st. Kirova, 28, +7 (343) 382-10-20
Addresses of hotels for fostering cats in Ukraine
- In Kyiv
Larmon, st. Lajosha Gavro, 4, +380 (44) 229-17-16
DogHotel, ave. Otradny, 31, +380 (44) 404-76-42
- In Kharkov
Madagascar, Heroes of Labor Street, 47-A, +380 (57) 784-70-50
- In Dnepropetrovsk
Zoohutor, st. Soglasiya, 7, +380 (56) 797-30-79
ZooVetCenter, Krasny Kamen residential area, 12, +380 (56) 788-94-83
Preface
Fortunately, for all the time I have had animals in my house (and this is almost always), I have always managed to find those people who can be entrusted with patronage of the animals while I am away. These are either relatives or friends. We always help each other out when it comes to livestock.
But now we live quite far from relatives and friends, and therefore quickly running in and feeding an animal in our absence has become not such a convenient activity. Of course, my beloved family and friends do not refuse to help, but, on the contrary, insist on help, but going to our home after work to feed the cat across the city and back is a dubious pleasure.
And then I started thinking - what if my friends who live nearby suddenly go on vacation at the same time as us or do we all go together? And, going on vacation this year, I decided to experiment, leaving Mars (and Chamomile) at home without the help of loved ones.
Before giving your pet into the wrong hands
There were no helpers among your relatives and you are considering other options? Well, many people do this and there is nothing wrong with it. However, we recommend that you foresee some subtleties in advance. If your cat is not of breeding value, it must have a fully completed veterinary passport, while a purebred animal must have documents.
If you cannot completely trust a person, then you should think in advance what you will do if they refuse to return the cat. Yes. you can go to the police and write a statement, but you left the cat yourself, and how can you prove that it is yours? These nuances are easily eliminated. The documents must be on hand, that is, you must take them on the trip or leave them in a closed home. Be sure to discuss with the temporary guardian the issue of remuneration for services and clear terms of your absence. Before leaving, contact the appropriate services so that the animal is registered with your passport details. If your cat does not yet have a microchip, install one.
What to do - how to leave a cat at home unattended?
So, a cat’s basic needs are food, drink and toilet.
Tray
If you are leaving for a week, then the toilet can be organized as follows - put not one, but two or even three trays with filler and, preferably, with a grate. The number of trays should be directly proportional to the degree of disgust of your cat (so that in your absence he does not go to the toilet past the tray).
Large tray with filler and mesh
If these trays are large, then pour a pack of filler into each of them (I use wood filler, as it perfectly absorbs odor and moisture). Three trays will be more than enough for a cat for 7-9 days of your vacation. Of course, ideally, it is better that you have someone who can come at least once a week to clean up after the cat and ventilate the room.
Food and drink
To keep the cat fed and watered, I purchased mechanical feeders. One of them is, in fact, a feeder, and the other is a drinking bowl. I specifically chose ordinary mechanical feeders, since I don’t really trust electronic ones. I've read about how they break at the most inopportune moment. I haven’t tested them myself, so I don’t know how reliable they are.
Mechanical automatic feeders, as it turns out, work flawlessly. Despite the presence of some disadvantages. By the way, they are cheap.
Mechanical feeders come from different brands. In addition, they have different container sizes. I bought 1.5 liters each. This amount of water and food will last at least 10 days. Food even up to 12-14 days. The water runs out earlier.
The operating principle is simple. The food is poured into a container with a hole and turned over. The food is gradually poured into the bowl. As the food is eaten, it is fed into the bowl gradually.
Pros of the feeder:
- The food is well stored and does not oxidize.
- Works flawlessly.
Minuses:
- You cannot limit the amount of food your pet eats. Mars ate plenty and gained mass while we were away.
With water, everything is also simple - the drinking bowl operates on the principle of communicating vessels. The principle is the same as for drinking bowls for parrots or chickens. Again, the water remains clean and is supplied gradually. Assuming that the cat drinks 150 ml of water per day, a 1.5 liter container will be enough for 10 days. That's pretty much what happened to me.
Feeding bowls: on the left is a drinking bowl, on the right is a feeder
Such drinking bowls and feeders have become a lifesaver for me.
Since the first experience of leaving a cat unattended was a test, friends still periodically came in and watched how everything went.
The result is that they never had to feed/supplement the cat. The tray was cleaned twice during the entire period.
Upon returning home, we discovered that the apartment had not been turned into a barn. A bored cat ran towards him and jumped into his arms. The house was clean - the feeders were in place, the trays were in more or less decent condition. Nothing is missed, the most important thing.
So, if you are going away for 7-9 days, you can absolutely leave your cat unattended. If you are leaving for a longer period, I would still recommend finding someone who can come to you at least once a week, check on your pet and clean the litter box after it. Agree - once a week or twice during a vacation is not so much. And you won’t have to strain people, and you can rest assured about the cat.
Contact a special person - a petsitter
Every year, pet sitters become more and more popular. These are people who, for a fee, visit the apartment and take care of pets while their owners are relaxing, throughout the entire vacation period. This service is available among the offers of agencies that select domestic staff.
pros
- the pet remains in the apartment among familiar surroundings;
- you won’t have to ask a friend or neighbor, and, therefore, cause them trouble or spoil relationships in the event of their possible refusal to help.
Minuses
- quite expensive service;
- a stranger will periodically come to the apartment;
- the cat will experience discomfort from the lack of communication in its usual volume.
You should carefully consider the issue of choosing a petsitter, since he will have access to the apartment. It would be absolutely appropriate to ask for feedback from previous clients, both about the work of the person himself and about the agency recommending him in general.
In order not to run into a scammer, it is recommended to carefully check documents and ask a couple of leading questions about cat care, for example, what to feed a sterilized cat? As an additional measure, it is advisable to exchange the maximum number of possible contacts and tell in detail about all your wishes and habits of the pet. Be sure to share the contact number of the veterinarian who is caring for the animal. It is important to replenish the supply of food and filler in advance.
Apartment foster care
If it is not financially possible to pay for a specialized hotel for animals, then the so-called apartment foster care becomes an alternative. For a certain fee, the owner of the home undertakes to care for the cat while its owner is away. When choosing this option, you need to be prepared for the following:
- Since such services are not officially registered anywhere, then, accordingly, the fact of their provision will not be legally documented in any way. All agreements are made verbally solely on mutual trust. It will be impossible to make any claims regarding the quality of keeping your pet or causing intentional/unintentional harm to it. As well as seeking monetary compensation in court for the damage caused.
- The animal will live in the same territory with other cats, which can number from several to several dozen. Even if the apartment has a large square area, they will all be in close contact with each other. Due to overcrowding, fights and “hazing” often occur near the feeders, when stronger cats take food from the “weak” and “new” cats.
- Often such apartments are furnished with old, bulky furniture, which makes sanitization difficult. The frequency of cleaning is also not regulated anywhere or by anyone and is set by the owner himself.
- When adopting a cat for foster care, its veterinary passport is usually not requested. This means that near the pet there can be both purebred “clean” animals and those picked up from the street and in adoption status. Often the latter are carriers and potential carriers of various viruses and infections.
With all the visible shortcomings of apartment foster care, it still makes sense to take a closer look at it. Firstly, the affordable price is captivating, and secondly, there are quite a lot of chances to meet decent home shelter owners.
Important: in order to minimize the risk of running into an unscrupulous “tenant”, it is recommended not to be lazy and spend time studying the blacklists of apartments. You can learn about them on thematic cat and zoo forums.
Paid foster care or hotel for cats
Deciding who to leave your pet with will not be the best if the pet has to be given to strangers for paid foster care. Reviews of such services from entrepreneurs are often negative, since cats are kept in cramped spaces, surrounded by many animals.
Temporary foster care for cats
There may be rare exceptions. If this option is the only possible solution, then it is recommended to conclude an agreement with the foster care organizer, study the conditions of keeping the animals, and agree on mandatory video and photo reports. During a preliminary visit to the shelter, it is recommended to pay attention to the smells, cleanliness, and behavior of other four-legged guests. The contract must contain a clause on responsibility for the life and health of the animal.
Placing a pet in a special hotel means that the animal will end up in the hands of specialists. As a rule, such hotels offer constant viewing of your pet thanks to installed cameras. The services of such hotels are high, since during the stay they provide veterinary services and individual care for those with specific needs. Trained workers monitor feeding, cleanliness, walks, and safety.
Hotel for cats
Pet hotels usually have their own websites. Before applying for a service, it is recommended to read customer reviews and make sure the comfort for your pet is reliable.
